Sunday, 2 August 2015

The Loneliest Road in America

Nevada is a good place to stretch out your arms, catch some rays, and breathe clean air. I'm not talking about Las Vegas, of course, which is all about fear and loathing. Nearly everybody in the state lives there, but no one goes outside, except to get the next casino.Most of Nevada is big, empty, and
sunny. The people are friendly
and helpful, on the rare occasions you actually encounter any people. Wild horses are more common. Jackasses, too. Calm down, politicians, I wasn't referring to you. Unless it was my Freudian side.

It's odd I know, but nearly every town along US Highway 50 ("The Loneliest Road in America") once had a population of about 10,000. I think the same 10,000 people kept moving about as gold and silver mines gave out in one place
and lodes were found in another. They even moved hotels
from one town to another. One built in Virginia City ended up in Austin, where it remains today.

A good example of all this is Eureka, between Ely and Austin. You know where that is, I'm sure. During the mining boom, Eureka had 10,00 people. Now it has around, 1900, the sign says. I never saw more than about 25. That was at the Opera House, a Victorian era building now beautifully restored. It is a good venue and we were lucky to be
there for a performance of western music by Ms. Belinda Gail. I honestly had never heard of Belinda, but she was damn good. Better than our hotel.

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About Me

Following more than thirty years as a history professor, I am now doing freelance writing, editing, speaking, and consulting. I received my PhD. from
the University of Wisconsin-Madison and taught history at the College of
Charleston in Charleston, South Carolina from 1974 until 2008.

My most recent non-fiction work,
Slavery, Disease, and Suffering in the Southern Lowcountry (Cambridge and New
York: Cambridge University Press, 2011) has received excellent reviews and was a co-winner of the SHEAR
Prize (2012) for best book on the history of the early American republic.

I have reviewed manuscripts for journals and academic publishers and
have consulted or done research on various historical projects for individuals,educational television,and organizations, including most recently, Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press, Atlantic Studies, South Carolina Educational Television, and University of South Carolina Press.

I have recently completed a novel of the American Revolution entitled Garden of Liberty and am working on a second novel, about a London physician and the body snatching trade in the 1790's, tentatively entitled Wells of Death.

SKILLS: Writing, Editing, Researching, Consulting, Teaching, Public Speaking. AWARDS, PRIZES, HONORS: SHEAR Best Book Prize, Society of Historians of the Early American Republic, 2012, co-winner.Distinguished Professor, College of Charleston, 2002Governor’s Distinguished Professor, College of Charleston, 1998South Carolina Historical Association, Prize for Best Paper published in Proceedings of the South Carolina Historical Association, 1993-94Distinguished Teaching Award, College of Charleston, 1985

MAJOR PUBLICATIONS: Slavery, Disease, and Suffering in the Southern Lowcountry. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2011.

Associate Editor, South Carolina Encyclopedia. Responsible for hundreds of entries on medicine and science, many of which I wrote myself. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 2005.

Moonlight, Magnolias, and Madness: Insanity in South Carolina from the Colonial to the Progressive Eras. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1996.